You Want My Browsing History? I Need Something in Return

MONTREAL, November 23, 2016 – Consumers around the world are becoming increasingly aware of the value of their personal data and can put a price tag on it with their online data valued at between C$18 to C$120. That’s one of the findings of the Aimia Loyalty Lens released today by Aimia, a data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics company. The studyalso reveals that four in 10 (41%) people regard their data as “highly valuable”, up from three in 10 (31%) in 2014.

Consumers gave the following price list for sharing their data:

For online data such as browsing history and purchases, the average* American set a value of C$52; Canadians and Australians both C$50; Britons C$35; Indians, C$24; and residents of the UAE, C$18.

For information such as address, email and phone details, Americans valued this data at C$33; Canadians and Australians, C$50; Britons, C$35; Indians, C$20 and residents of the UAE, C$29

South Koreans and Germans gave equal values to their different types of personal data at C$120 and C$73 respectively.

Shoppers want to “take back control” of their data

Seven in 10 online shoppers (71%) believe their preferred brands are good at using their data to make online shopping better. But they also want to have more control over how brands use their data. Nearly eight in 10 (77%) consumers would like to have more control over what data companies hold about them.

“Today’s consumers are digitally savvy,” said David Johnston, Group Chief Operating Officer at Aimia. “They know that their data is valuable to brands and when they share it they expect an improved service or benefit in return. It’s encouraging to see brands recognizing this and we need to continue to offer tangible benefits to customers for sharing their data.”

The rise of consumer data-dealing?

Aimia’s findings show that more than half (56%) of consumers surveyed have taken steps to limit brands from tracking and advertising to them online. At the same time, new technologies that give consumers control of their data are appearing. These include Solid, from web-founder Tim Berners-Lee, and Citizenme’s app.

Paired with consumers’ growing understanding of the value of their data, these could give rise to a new type of behaviour, where savvy consumers start to protect their data and share it for a cost.

“By being transparent and by giving personalized and tailored benefits, brands can prove to consumers the data exchange is beneficial,” David Johnston continued. “Those that don’t run the risk of losing access to the customer data all together, or potentially having to pay them for the privilege.”

Aimia’s research shows that consumers are often more willing to share their personal information if they understand why information is being taken and how it will be used. For example, nearly seven in 10 people (69%) were willing to share their mobile number with a company when it was explained why they wanted it, compared to half (52%) when no context was provided.

*For the purpose of comparison the average figures are the median figure given in each market once outliers were removed. Figures over CAD$10,000 were considered outliers. All figures were converted from local currency into Canadian Dollars for comparison purposes.

About the Aimia Loyalty Lens

Aimia has been conducting research internationally since 2014 to understand consumer attitudes towards loyalty, their engagement with technology and how it can facilitate relationships with brands and finally, how people feel about sharing their data and privacy concerns. The 2016 Aimia Loyalty Lens asked respondents to put a monetary value on their own data for the first time.

Methodology

For the study, Aimia interviewed more than 15,000 people in nine countries: U.K., Germany, U.S., Canada, UAE, India, Australia, South Korea and South Africa. The samples were nationally representative in terms of age, gender and region in all markets except UAE and India. In these two countries, the samples were “online representative.” This means they were representative of the population that has Internet access, which is typically biased towards younger, higher-income groups. Respondents answered a series of general questions and were then split them into three groups to answer more detailed questions on banks, retailers or supermarkets. This year, researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with 50 U.K. customers to dig a little deeper and better understand what consumers really think about brands and their use of consumer personal data.

About Aimia

Aimia Inc. (TSX:AIM) is a data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics company. We provide our clients with the customer insights they need to make smarter business decisions and build relevant, rewarding and long-term one-to-one relationships, evolving the value exchange to the mutual benefit of both our clients and consumers.

With about 3,200 employees across 17 countries, Aimia partners with groups of companies (coalitions) and individual companies to help generate, collect and analyze customer data and build actionable insights.

We do this through our own coalition loyalty programs such as Aeroplan in Canada, Nectar in the UK, and Air Miles Middle East, and through provision of loyalty strategy, program development, implementation and management services underpinned by leading products and technology platforms such as the Aimia Loyalty Platform – Enterprise and Aimia Loyalty Platform – SaaS, and through our analytics and insights business, including Intelligent Shopper Solutions. In other markets, we own stakes in loyalty programs, such as Club Premier in Mexico and Think Big, a partnership with Air Asia and Tune Group. Our clients are diverse, and we have industry-leading expertise in the fast-moving consumer goods, retail, financial services, and travel and airline industries globally to deliver against their unique needs.

For a full list of our partnerships and investments, and more information about Aimia, visit www.aimia.com.